Improvement in tools for setting hook-buttons



HGRACE C BRADF0RD1- improvement in Toois for SettingHook B-utt onsr N0.120,703, I V Patenced Nov-7,1137%.

'ing device.

HORACE O. BRADFORD, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN TQOLS FOR SETTING HOOK-BUTTONS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 120,703, datedNovember 7, 1871.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HORACE G. BRADFORD, of the city and county ofProvidence and State of Rhode Island, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Tools for Setting Hook-Buttons.

My invention relates to tools for setting in any suitable material suchcombined hooks and buttons aswere patented by W. H. Shurtleff, June 5,1866; and consists in a novel device for seizing and holding the neck orshank of the buttonhook, during the successive operations necessary forsetting the hook in any material with which it is to be employed; and Ido hereby declare that the following specification, taken in connectionwith the drawing furnished and forming a part of the same, is a clear,true, and exact description of my invention as applied to a hand-tool,and in combination with one kind of setting mechanism.

Referring to the drawing, Figure 1 represents a hand-tool inperspective, with my novel hold- Fig. 2 represents a portion of the toolin longitudinal vertical section. Fig. 3 represents in top view theinside of the jaw of the tool which contains my novel holding device.Fig. 4 represents a hook-button.

This hook-button, sometimes called buttonhook, may be briefly describedas a combined hook or button, provided with three prongs which stand atright angles to the plane of the opening in the hook. In describing myinvention I designate that portion of the hook-button which connects thebutton face with the plate from which the prongs project, as the shankor neck of the hook. The tool with which, for the purposes ofillustration, I have combined my invention, was patented by Esser andSteere, May 19, 1868 5 and it is only necessary to briefly state that itcon sists of a pair of pinchers, one jaw of which is provided with arevolving triangular block, the faces of which are in regular orderdrilled to receive the prongs, provided with a concave recess forbending the prongs inward, and a plane surface for clinching. Theopposite jaw is provided with a retaining slot for receiving abutton-hook in.

properpositi on. My improvement is in the clamping device for holdingthe hook whilebeing set.

In the drawing, A is the jaw of the tool to which the holding device isattached. In this instance, the outer end of the jaw is slottedvertically and provided with a lateral orifice, B,

which enters the said slot near its inner end from one side of the jaw.O is the clamp or holding device. It is fitted to slide back and forthin the slotted jaw. Its operative or holding end consists of a thinprojection, d, the end of which is slightly concave laterally, andfitted to enter the space between the under side of the button or hookand the top of the shank-plate. The

inner end of the recess in the jaw is slightly convex, and correspondswith the concavity described in the end of the clamp. D is a stemattached to the clamp C; it extends backward along the outside of backedge of the jaw A, and beyond the pivot-joint of the pinchers through aguide, 6. ()n this stem is an expansive spiral spring, h, so set thatthe tendency is to draw the clamp G into the slot and cause it to bearagainst the inner end of the slot, bringing the convex and concavesurfaces into close relation with each other. E represents athumb-piece, attached by a hingejoint to the end of the stem D, andprovided with a guide, f, projecting from the edge of one of the handlesof the tool. By pressing the thumb-piece longitudinally the clamp isopened, and upon removing the pressure the clamp is closed by theexpansive action of thespring h.

A hook-button inserted with head down, (either sidewise into theaperture B, or vertically into the space in the slot resulting from thewide opening of the clamp,) is held firmly by the thin projection 61against the inner end of the slot or re cess. Clamps acting upon theedges of the shank of the hook have generally been employed, andspecimens of such may be found in my automatic machine for settingbutton-hooks, patented June 14., 1870. Clamps have also been heretoforeused which would engage with the front and rear of the shank. In allsuch cases, however, prior to my invention, the seat which enters thebutton or lacing space between the under side of the button or hook andthe top of the shank-plate has been fixed or stationary, and thesliding-clamp has engaged with the rear side of the shank, forcing thebutton into its seat, and holding it against the edge of the seat. Withsuch clamps it frequently will occur that the hook will swing more orless to the right or left. In my improved clamp the projection 61 fillsthe vertical lacingspace, and sustains the hook from the time it isdropped by the feeder until it is forced against the end of the slot,and also until the setting operation is fully completed in the formerease after a hook-button has been set the hook must be drawn from itsstationary seat, while with my ,clamp the hook remains stationary, andthe seat space between the under side of the hook or button and the topof the shank-plate, and arranged to sustain the hook during the settingoperation, substantially as described.

-2. The retaining-clamp, provided with a stem, spring, and thumb-piece,substantially as described.

HORAOE O. BRADFORD.

Witnesses HENRY MARTIN, JOHN G. PURKIS.

